Myanmar: National Consultant – Writing of Teacher Education Curriculum Materials

NATIONAL CONSULTANT –

Writing of Teacher Education Curriculum Materials

(Position located in Yangon, Myanmar)

Terms of Reference

Date Issued: 18 July 2019

Functional Title: National Consultant – Writing of Teacher Education Curriculum Materials

Organizational unit: UNESCO Myanmar Project Office

Duty Station: Yangon, Myanmar

Duration of the contract: 26 August 2019 to 30 June 2020

Application deadline: 7 August 2019

Background:

UNESCO, in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE), is working to strengthen pre-service teacher education in Myanmar through reform measures outlined in the National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) 2016-21. The project named “Strengthening pre-service Teacher Education in Myanmar (STEM)” addresses four fundamentally important aspects of pre-service teacher education. These include:

· formulating a policy framework of pre-service teacher education and identifying standards for quality assurance,

· improving a system of pre-service teacher training institutions - Education Degree Colleges (EDCs)[1] by designing the new four-year degree programme of pre-service teacher education and creating good networks to accumulate and share knowledge and experiences of all EDCs,

· developing institutional/management and human resource capacities of EDCs, and

· mainstreaming inclusion and equity issues in teacher education.

The project is improving teacher education in the area of governance, policy development around teacher education, review of learning resources and development of curriculum, and building capacity of staff in management and teaching. Under the project, UNESCO is supporting MoE to produce syllabi, student teacher textbooks (TBs) and teacher educator guides (TGs) for the new four-year EDC programme, to be implemented in 25 EDCs across all states and regions in Myanmar. The first and second years are considered to be foundation years, focusing on preparing student teachers to acquire basic knowledge and develop skills to teach primary and middle schools respectively while the third and fourth years provide primary and middle school specialization tracks for student teachers to choose to get more in-depth knowledge and experience in teaching students of the particular schooling levels. The curriculum of the four-year EDC degree is to train primary and middle school teachers for Myanmar basic education schools and needs to align with the new basic education curriculum, which is being implemented gradually in Myanmar[1].

According to the EDC Curriculum Framework, the four-year EDC programme will follow a competency-based approach. The focus is not just on subject content but also on the skills and attitudes needed to effectively apply knowledge, skills and values in teaching and learning situations, with specific grade-levels.

The four-year EDC programme is also designed as a spiral curriculum. Throughout the four years, student teachers return to familiar concepts, each time deepening their knowledge and understanding. The programme is divided into two cycles. The first cycle (Year 1 and Year 2) is repeated at a deeper level in the second cycle (Year 3 and Year 4) to enable student teachers to return to the ideas learnt from the first cycle, experiment with them, and use a wider range of practices in the classroom. Year 1 and Year 2 are regarded as foundation years for student teachers. Year 1 focuses on giving introduction to primary school curriculum and the related strategies to teach while Year 2 focuses on giving introduction to secondary school curriculum and the related strategies to teach.

In line with this process, UNESCO supports MoE and its Curriculum Core Team (CCT)[2] in developing Education Degree College (EDC) curriculum and related materials of 11 subjects and four learning areas[3]. The development of Year 2 syllabi, TBs and TGs commenced in early July 2019, with support from MoE, CCT, UNESCO and other stakeholders. The subjects of the Year 2 EDC curriculum are as follows: Educational Studies, Practicum, Reflective Practice and Essential Skills, Myanmar, English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies (History and Geography), Physical Education, Life Skills, Art (Performing Arts and Visual Arts), Morality and Civics, Local Curriculum, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

Out of these subjects/learning areas, the following subject areas are identified to have a strong local orientation:

· Myanmar;

· History (as part of Social Studies);

· Geography (as part of Social Studies);

· Physical Education;

· Life Skills;

· Performing Arts (as part of Art);

· Visual Arts (as part of Art);

· Morality and Civics; and

· Local Curriculum.

National consultants, who have expertise in any one or more of these subject areas, are sought to i) review, provide technical input on and finalize the draft EDC Year 2 syllabi, drafted by CCT, in prior to start writing the TBs and TGs; and ii) write and revise the draft TBs and TGs as curriculum authors throughout the curriculum development process between August 2019 and June 2020. The focus of this writing process is to ensure that the newly developed curriculum materials, in terms of overarching concepts, content, sequences, learning activities, teaching and learning strategies and assessment approaches, are contextualized while meeting the international standards and trends, including mainstreaming inclusion.

The development of the Year 2 syllabi, TBs and TGs will be supported through activities such as workshops and small group meetings in consultation with the CCT as well as with UNESCO and other relevant stakeholders in 2019-2020. The pilot testing of the drafted curriculum documents will also be conducted to collect feedback from various stakeholders on the syllabi, TBs and TGs for the revision and finalization of these curriculum documents.

The tentative schedule of the major tasks is as follows. Please note that the schedule is tentative and subject to confirmation in consultation with UNESCO, MoE and curriculum authors.

August - early September 2019

review, provide technical input on, and finalize draft syllabi

September 2019

write and revise 15% to 20% of the first draft TBs and TGs

October to November 2019

write and revise first full draft TBs and TGs

December 2019 to Mid-February 2020

write and revise second full draft TBs and TGs

December 2019 to March 2020

select lessons for pilot testing and provide support in pilot testing to improve the draft TBs and TGs

March to April 2020

write and revise third full draft TBs and TGs

May 2020

write and revise final full draft TBs and TGs (if any further revisions needed)

June 2020

write final summary report

Work Assignment:

The national consultants will perform the tasks under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, the direct supervision of the Head of Office of UNESCO Myanmar Project Office, the day-to-day guidance of the Senior Education Project Officer and in close collaboration with the STEM project team. The national consultants will be responsible for the development of the draft syllabi, TBs and TGs of the particular subject(s) as agreed between UNESCO and the national consultants for Year 2 EDC curriculum in Myanmar, ensuring the high quality of the documents ready for country-wide implementation in December 2020. The consultants’ responsibilities include the following:

· Review and get familiar with the relevant documents on curriculum development, including but not limited to EDC curriculum framework, Teacher Competency Standards Framework, Year 1 syllabi, TBs and TGs and Year 2 draft syllabi;

· Participate in the orientation to have a clear understanding on the expectations and scope of work in Yangon, Myanmar to meet with UNESCO and relevant stakeholders and to ensure understanding of the context before commencing curriculum development work;

· Facilitate a workshop in Yangon, Myanmar with other curriculum authors tentatively scheduled in early September 2019, to consult MoE and CCT of respective subjects and taking into account feedback from other stakeholders (such as development partners, organizations and individuals supporting curriculum development and teacher education and cross-cutting themes including but not limited to mainstreaming inclusive education, gender sensitivity, and education for peace and sustainable development) about the draft Year 2 EDC syllabi;

· Submit to UNESCO a list of comments received from CCT, MoE and other stakeholders and the further revised Year 2 EDC syllabi incorporating these comments;

· In collaboration with UNESCO and CCT and based on the style guides on the development of TBs and TGs, the EDC curriculum framework and syllabi, produce Draft 1 of EDC Year 2 TBs and TGs of selected subjects, in consultation with UNESCO, MoE and CCT through workshops and small group meetings. In particular, write approximately 15%-20% of Draft 1 EDC Year 2 TBs and TGs, in consultation with UNESCO and MoE, for initial review and comments and then complete the rest of Draft 1 TBs and TGs on a rolling basis;

· Provide technical guidance to CCT members, who will support in drafting several lessons from each subject following a capacity development approach and review and incorporate CCT’s draft lessons into the draft EDC Year 2 TBs and TGs;

· Write, review and revise the draft TBs and TGs, based on the guidelines on reviewing curriculum materials provided by UNESCO, at least four times at different stages of the curriculum development process (15% to 20% of the first draft TBs and TGs, the first full draft, the second full draft, and the third full draft);

· Review and provide comments on selected lessons of the draft TBs and TGs of other related subjects, to ensure vertical and horizontal alignment of curriculum across subjects;

· Propose art works, such as illustrations, infographics and photographs, and provide teaching and learning resources needed for draft EDC Year 2 TBs and TGs;

· Select lessons for pilot testing and support pilot testing of selected content of Draft 1 EDC Year 2 TBs and TGs with selected EDC teacher educators and student teachers;

· Communicate with UNESCO and, if necessary, CCT, regularly to provide updates on the progress and to make clarifications on the comments received on the draft syllabi, TBs and TGs;

· Ensure the integration of inclusive education content/approach and alignment with the international good practices in the draft syllabi, TBs and TGs. All TBs and TGs must be contextualized and cater for Myanmar teacher educators and student teachers with differentiated needs, including but not limited to gender sensitivity and special needs. All TBs and TGs must also be developed with evidence-based and concrete educational practices and approaches, including but not limited to alignment with basic education curriculum; coherence of the strands, sub-strands, scope and sequence, learning outcomes, lesson topics and learning activities; improvement of the assessment/evaluation scheme; and enhancement of the list of relevant learning resources; and

· Develop a summary report on the results of the activities completed, challenges encountered, efforts made to address any issues during the curriculum development process and recommendations on improving the curriculum development process for EDC Year 3 and Year 4 TBs and TGs.

Deliverables and Timeline:

All deliverables are submitted in English (except the deliverables for the Myanmar language subject), and in editable format (such as MS-Word and MS-Excel format). All comments received from CCT and other key stakeholders must be thoroughly reviewed and taken into consideration for each draft.

1. Revised and finalized syllabi for approval by 16 September 2019;

2. 15% to 20% of the first draft TBs and TGs by 30 September 2019;

3. The first full draft TBs and TGs by 29 November 2019;

4. The second full draft TBs and TGs by 14 February 2020;

5. Third full draft TBs and TGs by 30 April 2020;

6. Final full draft TBs and TGs by 31 May 2020; and

7. Final summary report by 30 June 2020.

Location and travel:

The work of the national consultants is home-based, with requirement of attending workshops, small group meetings and pilot testing with UNESCO, MoE and CCT in Yangon, Myanmar.

Fees:

Senior-level national consultants.

Qualifications:

Education:

· At least a Master’s degree with specialization in education and/or in one or more fields relating to the following subject(s) area(s):

· Myanmar;

· History (as part of Social Studies);

· Geography (as part of Social Studies);

· Physical Education;

· Life Skills;

· Performing Arts (as part of Art);

· Visual Arts (as part of Art);

· Morality and Civics; and

· Local Curriculum.

Work experience:

· At least ten years of experience in teaching and learning specific subjects and/or developing curriculum and training materials, preferably relating to teacher training and on themes such as competency-based approach, teaching strategies, assessment approaches and inclusive education;

· Previous experience in teacher education curriculum development in the Myanmar country context or context similar to Myanmar would be desirable; and

· Good knowledge of international and regional standards and trends relating to teacher education curriculum development is an asset.

Skills and competencies:

· Strong analytical skills;

· Excellent written and oral communication skills in both English and Myanmar, particularly for writing in a concise and logical manner;

· Good facilitation skills in workshops and small group meetings with stakeholders;

· Ability to meet deadlines;

· Ability to type in both English and Myanmar on computers;

· Proficiency in using common office ICT productivity tools such as Microsoft Office suite; and

· Ability to work independently and collaboratively on delegated tasks.

Interested applicants are invited to submit in writing to the UNESCO Myanmar Project Office:

a) A cover letter (in English) and clearly referencing “National Consultant – Writing of Teacher Education Curriculum Materials”, indicating how your qualifications and experience make you suitable for the assignment, and the methodology and approach(es) to be adopted to carry out the assignment;

b) The subject area(s) that you would like to work on;

c) The expected consultancy fee;

d) An up-to-date CV, with contact details including telephone numbers and email address;

e) The contact details of three referees; and

f) A writing sample.

Your application should reach yangon@unesco.org by email no later than 17:00 Hours (Yangon time) on 7 August 2019.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

In line with UNESCO’s overall gender mainstreaming strategy, the incumbent is expected to integrate a gender perspective in all activities and apply gender analysis and mainstreaming concepts whenever feasible.